Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Cambridge has higher unemployment (7.3%) than 84% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 33 minutes each way, next to 33 for New York and 26 for the U.S. Jobs and income earn Cambridge C−; getting around on foot earns it B−. About one in ten work in Cambridge itself; outside it, White Creek draws the most (14%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How Cambridge earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cambridge is better than 16% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Cambridge’s grade up ($72,612, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 11% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cambridge could be anywhere from D− to B.
In and out of Cambridge on a workday
On a workday 642 residents head out to work, 72 work right here, and 444 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Cambridge on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.72 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The places Cambridge commutes to
Where Cambridge clocks in
14% of workers
11% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
What Cambridge’s employers do
516 jobs are based in Cambridge.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cambridge, 2013 → 2023: 511 → 516. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cambridge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Cambridge spends getting to work: about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cambridge workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 838 commuters (the 14% who work from home are left out). Across New York: 57% drive alone, 25% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The commute from Cambridge, by distance
About 17% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
For most of Cambridge, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cambridge is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 32.9% across New York.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 969 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.7% of Cambridge households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cambridge’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cambridge places 4,337th of 5,656 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Atlantic Beach NY | 1,723 | $166K | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,335 | Eatonville FL | 2,333 | $33K | 28.2% | 10.7% | 1% | C− |
| 4,336 | Kingsford Heights IN | 1,500 | $58K | 26.7% | 1.1% | 3% | C− |
| 4,337 | Cambridge NY | 1,815 | $73K | 14.6% | 7.3% | 10% | C− |
| 4,338 | East Palatka FL | 1,494 | $74K | 27.2% | 0.0% | 3% | C− |
| 4,339 | Valencia NM | 2,406 | $55K | 29.4% | 7.8% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Cambridge, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Work in the towns next to Cambridge
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Cambridge’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Cambridge: questions
What is the median household income in Cambridge?
$72,612 (±$22,070) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cambridge?
14.6%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cambridge?
33 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cambridge work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are White Creek (14%, 4 mi), Bennington (11%, 13 mi), Colonie (5%, 29 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cambridge walkable?
Cambridge is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cambridge without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cambridge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cambridge
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.